Arogya Sanjeevani policy is a new, standard health insurance policy formulated by the IRDAI and will be offered by all health insurance companies in India starting from 1st April 2020 onwards. The name of the policy will be ‘Arogya Sanjeevani Policy – Insurance company name’. The coverage and terms & conditions of this policy are universal for all twenty-nine health insurance companies. The buyer has the choice to purchase this policy from any insurer. However, the premium rates and customer service can vary from one insurance company to another. It is suitable for lower and middle-income group families who have […]

With the global spread of the COVID19 pandemic, health has become the primary focus everywhere. There is huge pressure on the health infrastructure and the cost of treatments through hospitalization has increased. Unless individuals have adequate health insurance, the financial position will be severely impacted. We have examined a few health insurance policies and found Optima Restore is a good one. This was earlier known as Apollo Optima Restore but after the merger of Apollo health Insurance Co with HDFC Ergo, the policy has been named HDFC Ergo Health Optima Restore Insurance Policy.  Hospitalization expenses for COVID19 are covered under […]

The Union Budget 2020 introduced a new personal tax regime in addition to the existing Old Tax Regime for individual taxpayers. However, the New Tax Regime is optional. To put it simply, the assessee can choose between the New Tax Regime and the Old Tax Regime depending on what is best suitable from a tax planning point of view. The Income Tax Department has provided help for making a comparison between old and new tax regime and  is available on the website: https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/Tax_Calculator/index.html?lang=eng  where you can input the total income (before exemptions and deductions) and the total exemptions and deductions separately […]

Nassim Nicholas Taleb brought the concept of Black Swan events. In statistics, it is interpreted as a 1% chance event which is beyond the mean and three standard deviations. In actuarial science, this is called extreme events. The history of mankind has been shaped by Black swan events. Coronavirus originated in Wuhan province of China and in a matter of three months has brought the entire world into crises; medical systems, economy, the daily life of citizens. Currently, it is total uncertainty about the future across 199 nations of the world. But there is a positive side to it also. […]

There are many battles that women fight every day. While many remain to be won, some are conquered with such confidence that it inspires others to step up and follow suit. Mamata, aged 45, who works as a maid in corporate offices. Her accounts were handled by her husband. After the divorce, she was left with no assets, but the responsibility of supporting three children. Her daughter got married at the early age of 20, and unfortunately, she is also a divorcee and had two daughters. Now Mamata’s responsibility gets multiplied with her children and grandchildren. Mamata’s work begins from […]

World Cup Football study reveals the Goalkeeper moved to either left or right side 94% of the time and stood in the centre only 6% of the time whereas the strikers have netted the ball straight 30% of the time. Most goalkeepers dive to the sides. Just standing there is viewed as being stupid and embarrassing. I suspect most of us have a bias toward action, especially  we think we’ll look stupid if we standstill. The best-behaved investors understand that it’s in their best interest to do nothing most of the time, even though everyone else around them may be […]

Checklist for buyers before booking a flat The real estate sector was in a slowdown for the past 4-5 years, but its problems got aggravated in 2019 following the liquidity crisis triggered by the collapse of IL&FS. Two months ago, the government announced a Rs.25,000 crore bailout package to revive the stalled real estate projects. Checklist Under-construction flats are more complicated and riskier; here’s a checklist for buyers. One should get it right before booking in a new project.

Concerns: The investment community woke up to a rude shock last Friday. The capital market regulator, SEBI, banned Karvy Stock Broking (KSB). SEBI found that Karvy Stock Broking had fraudulently pledged the shares of some of its clients – after transferring the shares from their Demat accounts without informing them – and raised funds, which were transferred to one of its sister firms, Karvy Realty Pvt Ltd. The PMC Bank has been put under restrictions by the RBI since September after an alleged Rs4,355 crore scam, following which the deposit withdrawal was initially capped at Rs1,000/- causing panic and distress […]

It is quite normal in the family to discuss about budget and expenses; Husbands focus on reducing grocery bills whereas wife’s obsession is with expensive wasteful expenditure on restaurants and husband’s alcohol. Health-conscious wife advises her husband to join the Gym after seeing her husband’s growing belly.   The family’s budget had been blown by a princely sum of ₹5,000, 10% of their monthly routine expenses. But they have conveniently overlooked some items which have overshoot their expenses. Rent has increased by 30%, Credit card has nearly doubled their average monthly spend. The Singapore vacation overshot the budget by 40%. […]

The quarterly GDP growth has been published and is at 5%; it has also indicated slowdown in manufacturing and industrial activities. There are apprehensions that the economy will face difficult times ahead. The Finance Minister and RBI have come out with measures to counter this slow down. Economic changes are cyclical and so also equity market. It moves upward over a long term. Now the opinion is divided between optimism and pessimism. But at individual level we can focus on what is in our control and accordingly make/revisit our plans. We suggest some actionable;